The New Design Tastemakers


Posted September 11, 2014 in More

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In 2011 international design magazine Wallpaper* ran a story about Stockholm’s new generation of estate agents. Under the headline Realtor Check, the writer highlighted Fantastic Frank, Eklund and IliveSthlm (no longer in business) as the new innovators and tastemakers in the field of real estate – which we, at the time, had quite a hard time grasping. Because who, in their right mind, would look to those gum-chewing, brash youngsters with fast, flashy cars as tastemakers of … well, anything, really? Let’s be honest; brokers have had quite a bad rep for taking any chance to lie or cheat their way to a better deal.

            Three years has past since the article, and we’ll gladly admit to the fact that we were wrong and Wallpaper* was right. It seems that estate agency Fantastic Frank, under the lead of creative chief and partner Tomas Backman, is currently just about everywhere. Find any Swedish interior design blog out there, and you’ll find that many of the inspirational homes that are featured on the site aren’t from interior magazine shoots; they are actual objects for sale, styled by talented interior stylists and photographed by professional interior photographers. To take the concept even further, Fantastic Frank, who now also has an office in Berlin, has teamed up with other creatives in the field of fashion, architecture and design to create special one-off photo shoots that take the objects to a new creative level. Past “guest” stylists at Fantastic Frank include Mes Dames, Eva Lilja Löwenhielm and Mimmi Staaf.

            ESNY, or Eklund, the second firm mentioned in the article, has also had its fare share of attention, perhaps mostly due to it’s high-kicking CEO Fredrik Eklund, star in Bravo TV’s Million Dollar Listing New York. Last December, ESNY, who has offices in both Stockholm and New York, also launched their very own lifestyle magazine, World of ESNY. Who needs expensive design glossies when today’s estate agents do such a good job of inspiring us with their photographs and custom publications?

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